Coroner: Man found dead in trash facility was strangled

Monday

Jan 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMJan 30, 2012 at 5:01 PM

The death of a man whose body was found last week in trash delivered to a Rumpke transfer station on the North Side has been ruled a homicide. The body of Dean K. Reinhard, 45, of Columbus, who police said had a history of mental illness, was found by Rumpke employees at about 8:20 a.m. on Wednesday at the company's transfer station at 1191 Fields Ave.

Josh Jarman, The Columbus Dispatch

The death of a man whose body was found last week in trash delivered to a Rumpke transfer station on the North Side has been ruled a homicide.

The body of Dean K. Reinhard, 45, of Columbus, who police said had a history of mental illness, was found by Rumpke employees at about 8:20 a.m. on Wednesday at the companyís transfer station at 1191 Fields Ave.

Police had suspected that Reinhardís death was accidental, though they were investigating to determine whether he died before the trash truck arrived or was crushed by the truckís compactor.

Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak confirmed this morning that Reinhardís death has been ruled a homicide. Gorniak said Reinhard had been strangled, but additional information such as when he died was not yet available, she said.

She said her office still is awaiting the results of additional tests, including toxicology.

Todd Wielinski, Rumpke operations manager, said last week that workers at the transfer station saw the body as they looked over a garbage truckís emptied load to make sure it did not include items that cannot go to landfills.

The company was working with police to retrace the route of the truck, which collected trash from large containers at commercial properties including restaurants. The truck began its route well before sunrise, Wielinski said.